A laundry washing machine includes a housing with conventional washing elements within the housing. A door on a door opening of the housing enables access inside the housing to the conventional washing elements. A sensor senses color of cloth prior to passing the cloth through the door opening. The sensor is positioned so that it senses the cloth in a dedicated area outside of the machine adjacent to the door or door opening.

System and method for dispensing product to a washing machine. A chemical dispensing system includes a system controller, machine interface, and pump controller that communicate through serial data buses. The system controller provides a user interface, retrieves washing machine status information from the machine interface, and issues product dispensing commands to the pump controller. The pump controller monitors pump status and dispenses product in response to commands from the system controller. The pump controller: (1) determines pump activation periods based on calibration data stored in a pump controller memory; (2) tracks pump usage and adjusts the activation period to compensate for pump wear as the pump ages; (3) disables the pump if conditions exists that preclude operating the pump; (4) monitors product levels, and (5) reports pump status to the system controller. Integral channels are included in the pump housing to provide stress relief to a squeeze tube.

An out-of-product alarm process includes initiating an out-of-product check by sending a signal to a controller from an optical sensor assembly connected to a fluid delivery medium for delivering a product to a fluid dispensing site, performing an out-of-product check, running an alarm cycle with the controller after receipt of an out-of-product signal, and executing a corrective action. Performing the out-of-product check includes directing light into the fluid delivery medium, generating a detector output based on detected light within the fluid delivery medium, determining an out-of-product state within the fluid delivery medium based on a comparison of the detector output to an out-of-product threshold, starting an out-of-product timer, when the out-of-product state is determined, and determining an out-of-product event when the out-of-product timer reaches a threshold out-of-product time period.

A laundry treating appliance having a trating chamber and a bulk dispenser and a user interface configured to provide an indication to the user related to the bulk chemistry dispenser and a controller coupled with the user interface and the bulk treating chemistry dispenser and configured to execute an operating cycle including controlling the treating chemistry meter to dispense the predetermined amount of treating chemistry and determine a number of doses of treating chemistry available in the bulk treating chemistry dispenser and method of determining the number of doses and the types of a treating chemistry available in the bulk dispensing system, and providing an indication of the determination on a user interface.

A method for indicating a cycle of operation in a laundry treating appliance having a space that includes at least one electrically conductive element disposed in the space and coupled with a controller, the method includes producing in the at least one electrically conductive element the voltage or the current in reaction to the energized e-field apart from the article. Receiving in the controller a signal from the at least one electrically conductive element indicative of a value of a parameter associated with the voltage or the current of the at least one electrically conductive element. And, generating an indication, by the controller, indicative of a cycle of operation and wherein the indication increases or decreases in intensity proportional to the value of the parameter associated with the voltage or the current.

A laundry treating appliance includes a treating chamber provided for receiving laundry for treatment, a controller having a memory in which is stored a set of executable instructions including a set of cycles of operations. The laundry treating appliance also includes a user interface operably coupled with the controller and having a touchscreen configured to provide an input and output function for the controller.

A method of provisioning a household appliance includes transmitting a signal from the household appliance to a remote user interface device and receiving, by the household appliance, an acknowledgement from the remote user interface device in response to the signal. The method also includes providing an indication on a user interface physically connected to the household appliance. The indication indicates an element of the user interface physically connected to the household appliance to select in order to cause the household appliance to enter commissioning mode.

In a laundry treatment apparatus including a cabinet having an opening formed in one side thereof, a door rotatably coupled to the cabinet to open and close the opening, a drum rotatably provided inside the cabinet and configured to accommodate laundry introduced through the opening, a door lock unit provided inside the cabinet and configured to lock the door when the door closes the opening or release a locked state of the door in order to open the opening closed by the door, a communication unit configured to receive remote inputs of a user for communication with an external device, and a switch unit configured to connect or disconnect an external power, a locked state of the door and connection to the external power are maintained while a user maintains remote control after a preset cycle including rotation of the drum is performed.

A laundry dryer includes a cabinet, a user interface that is operably coupled to the cabinet, a motor that is disposed within the cabinet and communicatively coupled with the user interface, and a controller that is communicatively coupled with the user interface and the motor, respectively. The controller includes a memory storage that includes a plurality of night routines. The controller is configured with a selectable time point and is further configured to select at least one of the plurality of night routines at the selectable time point.

A notification control device includes: a sound notification controller sending a first notification control signal for causing a first device to provide a first notification, obtaining first response information to the first notification, and determining whether the first response information is in response to notification information; an image notification controller sending a second notification control signal for causing a second device to provide a second notification, obtaining second response information to the second notification, and determining whether the second response information is in response to the notification information; and a canceller sending a cancellation process signal for cancelling (a) the second notification when the sound notification controller determines that the first response information is in response to the notification information and (b) the first notification when the image notification controller determines that the second response information is in response to the notification information.